THE CHANGING PRAIRIES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18287, 4 January 1934, Page 8

THE CHANGING PRAIRIES

DISTRESS IN CANADA ' * ft REVLyAIif. OF homecraft * m • * • - w. ■ a HIGH PRICE DAYS GONE i _ i * ■■ ■ 1 •• ;/ WINNIPEG, No,v. 23. The poveroment of Saskatchewan has addptetT plans of relief for the eoimng«year which include, besides widespitad urban assistance, maintenance; and support'of 30,000 farmers and ihcjr Iftifiiffcs,' In certain eases- these farmers of ♦.ho (Juiijidiun prairies have themselves to blanie. There -used to bo a wide* spread pendency on the part of the western* agriculturist to eonsHttito himself'a “wheat miner ’’ pure and simple.* Blessed with fertile land uml mtteh of it, he concentrated with great ejicieney uJ*-.«ettiug out of the ground jas iuuueh wheat as he could. He solcK it at n comfortable- pricb, and was able/to buy food, clothing, and supplied (iil/maghbontig towns and village# Before the depression set iii it, was too uncommon thing for tho . prairie buy even his bread /: ; ‘'ujm tiff shopkeepers who had bought (pP-heir supplies from the big city - bakeries. Improved roads and easy r money permitted him and his wife to Mn&l' • j.,* y

mdtor lung distances, into the'towns to do all their shopping. Those days arc gone. Everywhere the farmer and his wife are struggling to become self-supporting. Farmers who did not have either cattle, sheep, 'or pigs on their farms a few years ago now at least have enough to supply the needs of their own table. A few years ago there were no local grist : mills in operation iu the three Prairie Provinces. Now there are many scores of them. The farmer takes his wheat to the mill, and gets it ground, receiving all the by-products as well. llu takes his flour home. His wife bakes the bread, and the animals get the “shorts. j; THE NEW FARMER. I But the revival of homecraft on 1 1 the prairies goes much farther than ' mere bread-baking. The Western ' Canadian farm is now self-sustaining i on a scale never before seen. The ' farmers raise their own meat. The i hides of the animals are tanned at > home, and countless repairs to harness l and equipment, once bought ' from [ dealers, are effected on the farm, i Spinning mid weaving also are now ! practised in thousands of homes wluire , these traditional peasant crafts nave l been held in contempt. Jinny native l Canadian and immigrant British Itomol steirders came of a generation far ;; removed from the age of domestic > handicraft; but many ot their neighI burs, of the sturdy European races, ; have maintained the old customs of r their native villages, and from them r I the farmers less tutored in these arts )l have,rapidly learned. Sheep are non

often shorn on the funns, the wool carded, Spurt, anil Woven into rough garments which make up in warmth for their lack of skill in manufacture. All those developments mark the ndhptation of the Canadian farmer to the new conditions of low prices. There is a general realisation that the happy old days of high prices and winter holidays on the Pacific Coast or California are gone for good. The West is breeding .a race of farmers who are more self-sustaining than ever before and Who have reduced • t their costs of production to figures j which a few years ago seemed im- ! possible. Costly machinery has in many cases been done away with. Many farmers have been forced to abandon their large holdings and are ' content with a modest 360 acres, I which, by Western standards, is not \ large. ; “COVERED WAGONS” AGAIN. » Yet there remains widespread dis- : tress, as shown in the figures of. < Saskatchewan rural relief. Central i Albefta also has a stricken area, while . the four rural municipalities of south- ', eastern Manitoba arc in dire straits. ■ ilcre drought and grasshoppers comi bined to play havoc with the harvest. • la these sections, too, water is - always scarce, and the problem of r keeping even a few head of livestock s becomes insoluble. Government aid - has brought the necessary cattle feed , into these districts. 11l other parts f shops are being taken, not only by the I I Government, but on the initiative of s 1 individuals, to move whole families a'out of the dried-out areas into districts

where pasturage and fuel are more plentiful. New districts in the Peace River country have been opened for settlement, and in Saskatchewan the “covered wagons s 'of the migrants arc again moving on the northern roads. Meanwhile a somewhat surprising fact is the lack of apparent interest in the wheat restriction agreement signed by Canada this summer. Generally speaking, informed Prairie press opinion is opposed to it, although it has the support of the Prairie Governments. The attitude against the plan is that it puts Western wheat producers into a strait jacket from which there is no escape. The economic and efficiency of wheat production in Canada arc pointed to; the bitter struggle of the farmers to meet successfully the new competition imposed upon them is emphasised; and the conclusion is reached that in the long run it would be better for Canada to light it out and make the attempt to drive her competitors into other lines of production, leaving her to produce the wheat which admittedly Is the best in (lie world. But (lie average farmer appears to see the situation in a different light. He does not look at the long-run effects of the agreement, but is concerned chiefly with the fact that this year, owing to severe drought, the whole wheat crop will not be more than 275,000,000 bushels. Impressive though that total may appear, it represents what is known as “hull: a crop. 55 Whole sections of the country reaped practically nothing, while the